Council has deferred a revised financing plan for the purchase of a new fire rescue van after some councillors questioned a proposal to utilize funds from an under-budget road project.
In February council approved the replacement of Mapleton Fire Rescue’s current 1998 Drayton station rescue truck and an RFP for a replacement vehicle resulted in three proposals.
On April 24 Fire Chief Rick Richardson presented council with a report indicating the Mapleton Fire/Rescue Truck Committee recommended acceptance of the proposal from Dependable Emergency Vehicles for the purchase price of $344,420, with expected delivery in the early spring of 2019.
The company’s tender was the lowest of the three submitted, with the highest coming in at $426,000.
The report explains the township’s five-year capital plan contains a $250,000 allocation in 2019 towards fire truck replacement.
“This was originally intended to be a tanker, and as such, does not realistically reflect the cost of a replacement rescue vehicle,” Richardson stated in the report. “In 2009 the rescue vehicle procured for the Moorefield station cost $266,326.”
Proposed funding for the new truck (upon delivery in 2019) identified in Richardon’s report and a separate report from deputy treasurer/financial analyst Larry Wheeler included the $250,000 allocation, plus $100,000 (to be transferred in 2018 to the fire department capital reserve) from savings obtained by the township on a Sideroad 19 box culvert replacement tender.
A public works report on the agenda at the same meeting indicates the lowest tender for that project, which had been budgeted for $570,000, came in at $208,000.
Councillor Lori Woodham wondered if the existing truck had been generating an extraordinary amount of maintenance expenses.
Richardson responded that it has only required routine maintenance.
“I have a hard time that we don’t have total allocation from the fire department for the purchase of this truck,” said Woodham. “If the truck is still working could we perhaps defer it for a year until the funds can be allocated from the fire department?”
Woodham continued, “Yes, it’s a good thing when we have things that come in under budget and it does allow some flexibility, but that (culvert) job hasn’t been completed yet either and there could be things under our control that we don’t know about, and I’d also love to see roads department funds spent on roads.”
Councillor Dennis Craven said, “You’ve got to be careful, too. If you keep putting off vehicles, not replacing them when they’re scheduled to be, then you might all of a sudden end up having to replace more than one – not necessarily for the fire department, but … all of a sudden you get behind and you’re not able to keep up … so you have to be careful there to stick to your replacement schedule.”
But councillor Michael Martin pointed out, “This isn’t part of our original replacement schedule. It’s been bumped up.”
While “certainly intrigued” by the proposed financing plan and pleased to see the inter-departmental cooperation involved in developing it, Martin indicated he was concerned the truck financing wasn’t accounted for in advance.
“I guess I’m not sure, if we wouldn’t have had a project that came in significantly under budget, how we’d have financed this truck,” he stated.
“Is there a way that we could replace the $100,000 taken from the roads project, the culvert – is there a way that we could replace that back into roads over a period of a couple of years or something? Perhaps by moving back the scheduled purchase of another truck down the road?” Martin asked.
“The plan that’s here now certainly finances the project this year, for this truck. Could we kind of have our cake and eat it too, where the money gets redirected back to roads and bridges at some point?”
While “not saying the truck won’t last a year,” Richardson pointed out there are some concerns with the current vehicle.
“The rescue truck we have now is very undersized. We’ve added confined space equipment, water rescue equipment, more equipment than we’ve ever had before, since that truck was bought,” Richardson said.
He added the truck “does labour” when going up hills to calls in Drayton, “which is definitely not what you want in an emergency vehicle.”
Martin reiterated his suggestion to return the funds to the roads budget over the long term.
Wheeler noted the 2020 budget plan shows a $110,000 contribution to fire capital.
“Certainly at that time you could decide to move it back to roads,” he pointed out.
However, Woodham asked, “What would we do if (the culvert project) goes over? Yes, we have a quote and it’s coming in under, but what if, I don’t know, an exotic turtle landed in there and it changed the whole situation? … there’s always something in my experience. So then what would happen?”
Public works director Sam Mattina pointed out there is a considerable surplus in finances for the culvert project.
“The balance remaining after the $100,000 is $260,000 for this culvert … The value of the job is $208,000. It’s very unlikely that contract will go 100 per cent over budget. There’s quite a buffer there … So I have no concerns from an engineering prospective,” said Mattina.
Woodham pointed out council has consistently been unable to fund all the road projects it would like to during budget discussions.
“We have some very rich affluent families and when it comes time for taxation it doesn’t hurt them. But we also do have other families who struggle to pay their taxes,” said Woodham.
“So if we’re communicating to them that their tax rate went up because we’re doing their roads, we’re doing this and that, and yet, we’re not doing it, that’s what I’m struggling with.”
Craven said, “we can’t sit here and wonder, what if” but, “We wouldn’t want somebody to have a heart attack quite a piece away from the fire hall and the rescue van has a problem getting there … because it fails.”
“How do we know tomorrow that all the trucks won’t fail?” asked Woodham, who pointed out council has been forced to drop or scale back other road projects, despite delegations from citizens requesting the work be done.
“Well here we have a job that’s coming in less, why couldn’t we take that and allocate it over?” she asked. “When this council’s sat here and had so many meetings about budget and setting our budget, why can’t we stick to what we said?”
“Honestly I agree with both sides,” said Mayor Neil Driscoll, who recalled delegations of citizens asking for road work in several parts of the community,
“And the work is needed,” he stated. “But by the same token we have to be able to protect our residents. But what I’m hearing is that (the current) truck is okay to protect our residents right now.”
Driscoll said, “My biggest fear is that there’s not enough people providing emergency vehicles.
“You read in the paper where one is shut down and there is an auction, so the other company obviously says, ‘Well we can take advantage of these municipalities. They need the trucks.’
“But is there any other source that could build this box on a truck like what you need? You have the pattern. You know what you want. Could you go to someone who builds truck bodies and say could you do this, or what would your price be?
“Could you save $100,000 by going somewhere else? I know the tender is out there. It’s a lot of money.”
Craven pointed out, “We’re in a situation where we’ve got a bonus. We’ve got money that we haven’t spent yet. So do we spend it on a rescue van or do we spend it on a road? I guess that’s kind of our decision.”
Woodham moved to defer the matter pending a staff report on other options. The motion to defer was approved.
Richardson asked if council was asking staff to investigate “a better price on a truck” as well as financing options.
“We sent out the RFPs to the seven companies that make fire trucks,” the chief noted. “If we want to go outside that then we have to go to a company that makes feed trucks or lumber trucks and ask them if they can build a fire truck. I’m not sure where you want to go on that?”
“Is it possible to reach out to other companies that build vehicles?” Driscoll asked. “Maybe I think it’s too simple,” he added.
The report is expected at the May 8 council meeting.
